loading page

Subcutaneous Allergen Immunotherapy in Children: Real Life Compliance and Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Compliance
  • +1
  • Elif Soyak Aytekin,
  • Ozge Soyer,
  • Bulent Sekerel,
  • Umit Sahiner
Elif Soyak Aytekin
Hacettepe University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Ozge Soyer
Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine
Author Profile
Bulent Sekerel
Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine
Author Profile
Umit Sahiner
Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine
Author Profile

Abstract

Background: Allergen immunotherapy(AIT) is an effective treatment for allergic rhinitis, asthma and venom allergy. Compliance is essential for AIT to obtain maximal benefit as it is a long term treatment. Objective: We aimed to evaluate the real life compliance of children with subcutaneous immunotherapy(SCIT) and tried to document the factors associated. Additionally how COVID-19 pandemic effected the compliance of the patients and the reasons of drop-outs were also evaluated. Method: Patients diagnosed with allergic rhinitis, allergic asthma or venom allergy and treated with SCIT between 2012 September, 2020 July were analyzed. Results: The study population comprised of 201 children (66,7% male) with a median (interquartile range) age of 12,8(9,4-15,2) years during the first injection of SCIT. The overall compliance rate before COVID-19 pandemic was 86,1%. Short AIT follow up time and venom allergy were found to be risk factors for drop out. The leading causes of drop outs were moving to another city/country(32,1%), improvement of symptoms(17,8%), ineffectiveness(14,2%) and adverse reactions(14,2%). During COVID-19 pandemic, among 108 patients receiving AIT, 31(28,7%) dropped out the therapy. The most frequent reasons for drop-outs were fear of being infected with COVID-19(35,4%) and thinking that the AIT practise stopped due to COVID-19 pandemic(29%). Male gender and older age were found to be the independent risk factors for drop out. Conclusion: The real life compliance in children was higher than in adults. Nearly one third of children dropped out during COVID-19 pandemic. Male gender and older age are associated with AIT drop out during COVID-19 pandemic.
22 Apr 2021Published in International Archives of Allergy and Immunology on pages 1-6. 10.1159/000514587